Brownie, You're Eating A Heck Of A Dinner

More news has come out that really paints a great picture of the fantastic work FEMA did responding to the Katrina disaster. Marty Bahamonde, the first FEMA official to arrive in New Orleans in advance of the storm, has come out publicly to criticize the agency (particulary his old boss, Mr. Brown) for the refusal to recognize the urgency of the situation in New Orleans. He has revealed email conversations that contradict Brown's previous comments that he was unaware of how dire the circumstances in the city were. Bahamonde sent repeated emails to Mr. Brown in the first few days (in the immediate aftermath), updating him on the intensity of the mess and telling him, basically, that New Orleans was a powder keg ready to explode. He received no responses... He did get forwarded an email from Brown's press secretary, Sharon Worthy, who told FEMA employees to leave Brown alone, because he needed "much more [than] 20 or 30 minutes" to eat dinner due to the wait at the Baton Rouge restaurant he was dining in.

What were the people in New Orleans doing for dinner that night? Who cares? Let them eat cake!

From an MSNBC report, the emails...

Bahamonde's email: "The situation is past critical... Hotels are kicking people out, thousands gathering in the street with no food or water... Estimates are many will die within hours."

The Worthy email: "...it is very important that time is allowed for Mr. Brown to eat dinner. Given that Baton Rouge is back to normal, restaurants are getting busy. He needs much more [than] 20 or 30 minutes."

Bahamonde was understandably blunt in his email back: "OH MY GOD!!!!!!! Just tell her I just ate an MRE and [went to the bathroom] in the hallway of the Superdome along with 30,000 other close friends, so I understand her concern about busy restaurants."

This would be funny if it weren't so sad.

Yet still, it was considered a heck of a job in George W. Bush's America.

See also non-accountability from Brownie's old boss...
Chertoff: "I'm not a hurricane expert"